As a co-founder of PNR, a management consulting company that aims to help organizations better understand the major technological changes to accelerate integrating them into their strategy, Nectarios Economakis places the customer at the heart of everything. Because without customers there is no company and no products. Interview with the one who was the first employee responsible for business development at Google in Montreal.
Why does the customer have to be at the centre of a strategic plan and a sales strategy?
With the inescapable presence of technology, the customer is continually dissatisfied today. Indeed, the introduction of a new technology can be very disruptive. Think about WiFi in planes. At first people didn’t like it at all. Today, they can’t do without it and want to be able to watch their movie while travelling! We are all addicted to our mobile devices. Our expectation level is the same for all the companies we do business with. We want a quick response time, the same spontaneity, etc. The customer must therefore be at the centre of the sales strategy.
The second reason that places the customer at the centre is that companies have lost their value due to the development of technologies. Why is a company such as Netflix such a huge success today? Because it is in direct contact with its customers. It does not go through any cable intermediary. This relationship of proximity leads to very good customer experiences. I will give you another example – that of self-driving cars. People tend to overestimate technology. So many people think that this type of car exempts them from paying attention to the dangers of the road. They come to believe that it’s the vehicle that has to drive them somewhere.
What are the benefits for sellers in focusing on the customer?
Focusing on the customer can make salespeople’s lives easier, because then their only concern is to ask what they can do to improve the customer experience. Rather than concentrating on the products, you have to concentrate on the solutions. How can I help the customer achieve their objective? This is particularly true in B2B. We don’t want to sell them a product but a solution.
How does customer experience distinguish itself from the competition?
It always more worthwhile to concentrate on existing customers than on acquiring new customers. First because existing customers are our best ambassadors. And then, from a financial point of view, it is much less costly for the company to satisfy its existing customers than to go and look for new ones.
Does the customer have to count on more than the product?
Yes, of course, because without customers there are no products. Start-up companies often make the mistake of presenting their nice solutions without having them validated by their potential customers. For several years, the lean start-up model has allowed a product to be created based on customer reactions. It has become the norm in all technology companies and it will undoubtedly soon be the case for all companies.